Realtime alternative to locate&updatedb

10110111 · 04-09-2009, 07:37 AM

What program can i use to index my disk in real time and work with the features of locate? I saw something like that in Easy Peasy, there i just didn't have to run updatedb, and i got all the changes to database just as they occurred.

i92guboj · 04-10-2009, 03:49 PM

The standard tool to find files in linux, surprisingly, is called "find". That doesn't need any database. However, also unsurprisingly, it's slow compared to slocate since it has to search all the files each time you invoke it.

I think that gnome can use something called "beagle", don't ask me how it works though. In kde there's akonadi (only 4.x), I haven't experience with it either.

raskin · 04-10-2009, 03:50 PM

Please describe difference between what you want and what "find" provides.

i92guboj · 04-10-2009, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raskin

Please describe difference between what you want and what "find" provides.

The difference is that find can take minutes or even more to find something in a big fs, while slocate is instantaneous. He would like something that can find files that haven't been registered by updatedb, but that doesn't take ages to find a single file in your fs.

I just remembered something from the past. I remember something called rlocate, which achieves what he wants. The big problems are these:

it requires a kernel module, always a pain overall if you care about stability and security. In other words: after years of development: why hasn't it been included upstream in the kernel?
it seems pretty much unmaintained code, I don't even know whether it compiles against modern kernels or not

There's also mlocate, which is an alternative to slocate which in my humble opinion performs a lot better. It's not what he was looking for, but it's certainly an improvement over regular slocate. It's compatible and can be installed in place or slocate.

repo · 04-11-2009, 04:37 AM

take a look at beagle
http://beagle-project.org/Main_Page

lazlow · 04-11-2009, 01:08 PM

Be aware that beagle can use a lot of system resources at inopportune times.

10110111 · 04-15-2009, 08:22 AM

Quote:

There's also mlocate, which is an alternative to slocate which in my humble opinion performs a lot better.

I looked in synaptic in ubuntu, ubuntu seems to use mlocate. I just didn't know how it could be called until you said

Quote:

Be aware that beagle can use a lot of system resources at inopportune times.

Is it true for inotify-supporting install?

i92guboj · 04-15-2009, 09:16 AM

Beagle can work with or without inofity. Without inotify it won't detect the changes on the fly of course.